I worked for a large drugstore chain. Within a month of starting, they offered me a promotion from a $7.50/hour cashier to a $10/hour inventory manager.

The morning I was to begin the new job, the store manager left on vacation without giving me any instruction other than to "get to know the store." Now, I already had a good idea of where everything was, so lacking anything better to do, I spent my time wandering up and down the isles with a scan gun, trying to look busy.

When the manager arrived back, she seemed to assume I knew what I was doing and gave me no direction or goals. Maybe she was distracted, because within two months she quit.

A new manager, a hard-nosed, serious man, arrived. After about a week, he asked exactly what it was that I did around the store. I was at a loss to answer him, since the previous manager had neglected to tell me my job.

He informed me that I couldn't use her as an excuse, since she was gone, and I had a month to "shape up". I still didn't know what I was meant to shape up to. But apparently I didn't do it, because I was shortly called back into the office and told I was returning to my job as cashier.
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